Contaminated Earth and Water: A Legacy of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the subject of the transport and fate of waste from the synthetic dye industry is far more than a footnote in history. It is actually a major chapter, encompassing both Europe and the United States. Indeed, in the 1990s there was as much interest in the history of the industry and its wastes among environmental litigators, particularly in the United States, as there was in the history of the dye industry among historians of chemistry. Review and analysis of various sources (ranging from expert reports, through early legislation, lobbying by and on behalf of the synthetic dyestuffs industry, methods of chemical detection and identification, and processes of waste handling and treatment) make it clear that much was known about the persistent and problematic nature of this waste. This included soil and groundwater contamination, as well as surface water pollution. There were considerable efforts to regulate manufacturers before 1890, but after that time the political and economic muscle of industry prevailed and prevented effective remedial action. Until the mid-twentieth century the industry effectively exerted its own destiny, self-regulatory and otherwise, even in the face of opposition.